The History of Counting

In teaching my son about math, I found that I also needed to teach him about the beginnings of counting and why we needed it. My mother gave him The History of Countingfor Christmas.

This is a great book explaining how we as people started counting, the difference between abstract and concrete counting and how our current system evolved.

A light bulb went off in my son while I was reading it to him. We spent a whole day practicing Sumerian counting and writing the symbols for it. He now sees the need for counting things by tens.

I highly recommend this book to help explain the reasons and history behind today's math!

Hello!

"So, what happens if I push this button again?"

"Oops, that's right, too close"!

Virtual Worlds for Children

Virtual worlds was something I never thought I'd be interested in, let alone allow my 6yr old to play. Alas, as with most of my other ideas concerning technology and parenting, this one has also been drastically changed.

You see, I'm a dinosaur in technology terms. They were still teaching girls to take shorthand when I was in high school. I was thirty before I owned a computer and I still have yet to ever send a text message (doubt I ever will).

However, I love the Internet! The access to knowledge is so fantastic to me, it's like having The Smithsonian Institute right next door and open 24hrs a day. Without it, I know my son would not be getting the education he is. Yet, I still never understood the gaming attraction and combining gaming with the social networks of virtual worlds, just seemed bizarre to me.

My son, on the other hand is infatuated with the idea. He currently visits three online worlds, Roblox, Webosaurs and now Wizard 101. I have to admit Webosaurs (which is a dinosaur world) and Wizard 101 (which is a "Harry Potter like" wizard world) look like fun. I think they would be great for most children who like imaginary play.

I did have to limit which areas of Roblox he plays with because some of the games are too violent for my liking. Even though the characters look like Lego people, the Lego Co. has nothing to do with this website and many of the games are created by players that are supposedly children 8-18 years old. I just know that they spend too much time blowing up people and things for it to be appropriate for my son.

Both Webosaurs and Wizard 101 have led to great discussions and new vocabulary words. Since he has become interested in medieval times, I am going to start him reading the Harry Potter series. Webosaurs has educational videos placed in the game which have expanded his knowledge of dinosaurs and the prehistoric timeline.

I only let him play in safe chat mode (he only has a predetermined list of phrases he can use to chat with) and he only plays the free versions for now.

So I guess you can teach an old dinosaur a few new tricks and maybe teach your children something new at the same time. I'm sure there are other virtual worlds for children as well, but at least these two can be educational and fun.

Back to Plan A

Getting back to homeschooling after the holidays has been painfully difficult. At first I thought it was just because of all the left over excitement, but now I'm beginning to think he is just bored with the lessons we have been doing.

It's not like we have a schedule or anything that I follow, we have always been somewhat eclectic in our approach. Until recently that is. I've been trying to follow some sort of curriculum plan. I found myself getting hung up on skills that most curriculums dictate he should practice for his grade level. What I forget sometimes is that he is already two grades ahead for his age in most areas.

I've been reading more and more about autodidact learning, child led learning, un-schooling, etc. From the time he was an infant, he has been the one directing his learning. Almost everything he now knows and has mastered are the things he showed interest in on his own. All I did was provide the resources and he dove in. I couldn't have held him back if I wanted to, he insisted on knowing!

I think it's time to try that approach again. Perhaps with a little more encouragement to try new things and a less prodding to "show me his work", we will get back on track. Something has to change because he shows very little excitement about his learning right now and I'm pulling my hair out. I need to trust my gut on this and trust my son.